Daily Current Affairs: February 1 & 2, 2021

Daily Current Affairs (February 1 & 2, 2021) like many other sections is inevitable and this also helps to score in the Banking awareness, Static GK, and Financial Awareness sections. Remember, Banking Awareness, and Static Awareness Questions are asked from the General Awareness section. This will also help you to ride your preparations for the forthcoming exams.

Also, Don’t forget to attend the Daily Current Affairs Quiz – February 1 & 2, 2021, now @ our Bankersdaily Tests.

SUBSCRIBE to Race Youtube Channel for CA QUIZ LIVE Sessions

Check: Previous – Daily Current Affairs – Banking Exam

Important Days

Indian Coast Guard celebrates its 45th Raising on February 01

• The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is celebrating its 45th Raising Day. As the fourth largest Coast Guard in the world, the Indian Coast Guard has played a significant role in securing the Indian coasts and enforcing regulations within the maritime zones of India. 
• The ICG was formally established on February 1, 1977, by the Coast Guard Act, 1978 of the Parliament of India.

World Wetlands Day – February 02

• World Wetlands Day is observed annually on February 2. The day is celebrated to mark the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. 2021 marks 50 years of the Convention on Wetlands.
• Theme 2021: “Wetlands and Water”

National News

Union Textiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani inaugurates the 8th India International Silk Fair on the virtual portal

• Union Minister for Women & Child Development and Textiles, Smriti Zubin Irani virtually inaugurated the 8th edition of India International Silk Fair. The fair is considered to be India’s biggest silk fair, being held under one roof on Indian Silk Export Promotion Council’s virtual platform.
• India is the only country in the world which produces all the four major varieties of silk i.e., Mulberry, Eri, Tassar, and Muga and has large varieties of products.

Union Sports Minister launches reference material for anti-doping chemical testing synthesized by NDTL and NIPER

• Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju launched a breakthrough reference material for use in chemical testing in the field of anti-doping synthesized by collaborative efforts of the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Guwahati.
• This Reference Material (RM) has been identified by NDTL as one of the rarely available RMs globally and would be used to strengthen anti-doping measures in all World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratories. 

Union Education Minister addresses the inaugural ceremony of the ASEAN India Hackathon

• Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ addressed the inaugural ceremony of the ASEAN India Hackathon. This Hackathon will provide a unique opportunity to India and ASEAN broad themes of “Blue Economy” and “Education”.

• ASEAN-INDIA Hackathon 2021 is launched by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in partnership with the Ministry of Education.

Uttarakhand inaugurates botanical garden named ‘Shivalik Arboretum’ to conserve 210 species of trees of Shivalik range

• A botanical garden named Shivalik Arboretum, conserving over 210 species of trees found in Himalayas’s Shivalik range was inaugurated in Uttarakhand’s Nainital. 
• Shivalik Arboretum aims to spread nature education among people so that they are able to feel an emotional connect with the trees and make them more active towards conservation.

Uttarakhand

• Capital: Gairsain (summer capital), Dehradun (winter capital).
• Chief Minister: Trivendra Singh Rawat
• Governor: Baby Rani Maurya.
• National Parks- Corbett NP, Gangotri NP, Govind PashuVihar NP, Nanda Devi NP, Rajaji NP, Valley of Flowers NP.

International News

India’s SJVN bags contract to build 679 MW electric power project in Nepal

• India’s SJVN won the contract to build 679 MW Lower Arun Hydro Electric Project in Nepal after a competitive bidding process. The Investment Board of Nepal in its 46th meeting chaired by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli awarded the project to government-owned SJVN.
• The Lower Arun Hydro Electric Project is located in Sankhuwasabha and Bhojpur Districts of Nepal. On completion 679 MW Lower Arun Hydro Electric Project will generate 3561 million units of electricity per annum.

Nepal:

• Capital: Kathmandu
• Currency: Napalese Rupee
• Prime Minister: KP Sharma Oli
• President: Bidhya Devi Bhandari.

Banking and Economy

PNB restricts customers from transacting from Non-EMV ATM machines from 1st February

• Punjab National Bank (PNB) bank restricting transactions (both financial and non-financial) from Non-EMV ATM machines from 1st February 2021. The move has been taken in order to ensure the safety of the PNB customers from the fraudulent ATM activities. 
• To overcome this, PNB will introduce OTP based systems for withdrawing cash. The bank has introduced ‘PNB One App’ which allows PNB debit card users to switch on or off their debit card through this app.

Punjab National Bank (PNB)

• Headquarters: New Delhi

• CEO: S. S. Mallikarjuna Rao

• Tagline: “The Name You Can Bank Upon”.

Appointments

Vietnam ruling Communist Party chief Trong re-elected for a 3rd term

• Vietnam’s ruling communist party re-elected its general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong for a third term, making him one of the country’s longest-serving leaders.
• Nguyen Phu Trong was elected the General Secretary of the 13th Communist Party Central Committee. He holds the position of the President of Vietnam since 2018.

Vietnam:

• Capital: Hanoi

• Currency: Vietnamese dong.

Rajeev Ranjan appointed as new Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu

• Senior IAS officer Rajeev Ranjan was appointed as the new Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu. He will be replacing K Shanmugam who will be retiring from the post but will continue as an advisor to the Government for a year. 
• Ranjan, 1984 batch of IAS cadre has held several posts in his 35 years of service. His last posting in the state was as Additional Chief Secretary (Highways) between 2013 and 2018.

Tamil Nadu

• Capital: Chennai
• Chief Minister: Edappadi K. Palaniswami
• Governor: Banwarilal Purohit.
• National Park: Mukurthi NP, Guindy NP,Gulf of Mannar Marine NP, Indira Gandhi (Annamalai) NP, Mudumalai NP.

Anish Shah appointed as the Chairman of Mahindra Finance

• Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services announced the appointment of Anish Shah as the Chairman of the board, effective April 2, 2021. He has taken over from Dhananjay Mungale, who will continue to be an independent director on the board of Mahindra Finance.
• Anish Shah is the Deputy Managing Director and Group CFO of Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) Ltd.

Facebook appoints Henry Moniz as its first Chief Compliance Officer

• Facebook has hired Henry Moniz, Executive Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at ViacomCBS, to be its first-ever CCO (Chief Compliance Officer). Moniz will lead Facebook’s strategy and execution of compliance matters in the US and around the world. 
• He will report to Jennifer Newstead, Facebook’s General Counsel and the audit and risk oversight committee of Facebook’s Board of Directors. He is also on the board of directors and audit committee for Kimco Realty Corp.

Awards and Recognitions

Dvara KGFS wins the “Technology for Financial Inclusion Awards 2020”

• Dvara KGFS, a leading NBFC in India, was announced as the winner in the award category “Technology for Financial Inclusion” at The Inclusive Finance India Awards 2020.
• The award was presented to Dvara KGFS in recognition for the robust technology offering a suite of financial services & products for the underserved section of the society and for their operational excellence over the last year.

AR Rahman and social activist Hari Krishnan win awards for being Good Samaritans

• Music composer AR Rahman and social activist from Saidapet Hari Krishnan were among the 14 people who were presented the fourth edition of the Alert Being Awards 2020 by the NGO ALERT for their Good Samaritan work. 
• Hari Krishnan had been appointed by the Greater Chennai Corporation as a district volunteer head for Covid-19 relief work.

Books and Authors

“This Life at Play: A Memoir by Girish Karnad”, a memoir of Girish Karnad in English to be released in May

• Girish Karnad’s memoir, “This Life at Play: A Memoir by Girish Karnad”, which was to be translated from Kannada into English by the actor-playwright himself but could only finish a part of it before his death in 2019, will now be out in May after final touches by award-winning translator Srinath Perur.
• This memoir will be released on the director’s 83rd birth anniversary on May 19 by Fourth Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

A new book titled “Yes Man: The Untold Story of Rana Kapoor” authored by Pavan C. Lall released

• Senior journalist and author Pavan C. Lall’s book, “Yes Man: The Untold Story of Rana Kapoor”, is the story of Rana Kapoor, and his Icarus-like flight that eventually led to the Yes Bank crisis.
• The book was published by HarperCollins.

A book titled “SOUMITRA CHATTERJEE: A Life in Cinema, Theatre, Poetry & Painting” — biography of Soumitra Chatterjee 

• The authorised biography of Soumitra Chatterjee “SOUMITRA CHATTERJEE: A Life in Cinema, Theatre, Poetry & Painting” was released that was authored by Arjun Sengupta and Partha Mukherjee. The book was published by Niyogi Books and virtually released on Soumitra Chatterjee’s birth anniversary on 19th January 2021.

Rankings

India is the 2nd most resilient economy among the top ten leading economies in 2021: Germany tops; PHDCCI report

• India will emerge as the most resilient economy after Germany in 2021 exhibiting a strong economic resurgence to the global economic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• According to the report released by industry body PHDCCI, Germany ranks first in the PHDCCI International Economic Resilience (IER) Rank followed by India and South Korea at second and third positions, respectively.
• It is based on an analysis of five lead macroeconomic indicators reflecting a country’s economic performance including real GDP growth rate, merchandise export growth rate, current account balance (as a percentage of GDP), general government net lending/borrowing (as a percentage of GDP) and gross debt-to-GDP ratio.

Sports News

Dinesh Karthik led Tamil Nadu beat Baroda to claim their second Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title

• Tamil Nadu (TN) overwhelmed third-time finalists Baroda (BRD) by 7 wickets to claim their second Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) title at Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad. Manimaran Siddarth has been awarded ‘Player of the Match’.
• Tamil Nadu had won their first Syed Mushtaq Ali title in 2006/07. Notably, both title wins came under Dinesh Karthik’s captaincy but at a difference of 14 years. 

India tops medal tally with 11 medals at first Asian Online Shooting Championship

• India topped the first Asian Online Shooting Championship with 11 medals, including four gold, two silver and five bronze medals. India’s gold winners were Saurabh Chaudhary in the men’s 10m air pistol, Divyansh Singh Panwar in the men’s 10m air rifle, Kynan Chenai in men’s trap and Rajeshwari Kumari in women’s trap.
• Arjun Babuta (men’s 10m air rifle) and Shreyasi Singh (women’s trap) won silver while Manu Bhaker (women’s 10m air pistol), Sarabjot Singh (men’s 10m air pistol), Deepak Kumar (men’s 10m air rifle) Prithviraj Tondaiman (men’s trap), and Manish Keer (women’s trap) won bronze medals.

Can you score 20/20 in Today’s Current Affairs Quiz? Attempt the Current Affairs Quiz of  February 1, 2021, now from the link given below. 

Daily Current Affairs Quiz – February 1, 2021